Cowboys 2024 Minicamp: 3 offensive players to keep a close eye in key offseason dates – Mauricio Rodriguez, A to Z Sports
- QB Trey Lance
This is the obvious elephant in the room. The Cowboys are hoping to get as many looks as possible on the quarterback they gave up a fourth-round draft pick for and minicamp will give them yet another chance to do so. Mike McCarthy has claimed that Lance has improved, even saying that “he’s close to being a master of the system” and that he “has a really high understanding” of the offense. However, Lance needs the reps. All of them matter, including these ones in June.
- Cooper Beebe
Although the third-round rookie won’t win the starting role when the pads have yet to come on, it’ll be important to monitor how many first-team reps he’s getting and most importantly, who’s giving him a run for his money.
Brock Hoffman, T.J. Bass, and even Dakoda Shepley have seen reps at center and the Cowboys coaching staff seems to be treating it like a wide-open competition. Does Beebe begin to separate himself?
As Rangers, Stars, Mavs ride championship runs, don’t forget: Cowboys set the standard – David Moore, DMN
The success of the other local teams has turned Jerry Jones and the Cowboys into a meme, Moore writes, but cautions not to make it more than what it is and provides some historical perspective.
The truth is the Cowboys lend context to what’s currently transpiring. The Cowboys are, like it or not, the standard by which these other local franchises are judged.
How about this one: How many championships has each franchise won?
Mavericks: 1
Stars: 1
Rangers: 1
Add those together, and it equals the number of Super Bowl championships the Cowboys have won. Well, the number they have won under the ownership of Jerry Jones. Throw in those two others before he assumed control and the total is five.
That may not resonate in today’s, “Come on, I mean Billie Eilish hasn’t had a global hit in weeks’’ world, but it makes a difference.
Individual championships excite. The chase for the title enthralls and energizes the fan base. But a franchise with multiple championships endures. The loyalty that accomplishment inspires runs deep and crosses generational lines. It extends the expiration date on goodwill.
The Cowboys challenged Pittsburgh as the team of the 1970s but fell just short. Dallas was the team of the 1990s. Have the Rangers ever been in the conversation for the team of the decade in Major League Baseball? What about the Mavericks and Stars?
Sure, Bill Clinton was the president the last time the Cowboys hoisted the Lombardi Trophy. Rupert Murdoch decided to launch something called Fox News and actor Mel Gibson won an Oscar for Braveheart. All of that underscores what the Cowboys did was ancient history.
But ask yourself this: Now that the Mavericks have advanced to face the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals, will they be considered equals since each franchise has won one championship in the previous 16 years, or will the Celtics be hailed as NBA royalty going against an accidental tourist?
History matters.
NFL Football Power Index: 2024 projections, Super Bowl chances – Seth Walder, ESPN
The ESPN Analytics staff use their Football Power Index to look at how the season could play out, including a look at some Super Bowl odds:
Texans’ C.J. Stroud Lists Patrick Mahomes, Dak Prescott Among NFL’s Top 5 QBs in 2023 – Julia Stumbaugh, Bleacher Report
The runner-up for the 2023 MVP gets some love from the 2023 Offensive Rookie of the Year.
C.J. Stroud believes the Dallas Cowboys’ Dak Prescott was one of the NFL’s top five quarterbacks during the 2023 season.
The Houston Texans star included himself and Prescott alongside the Kansas City Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes, Baltimore Ravens’ Lamar Jackson, and Buffalo Bills’ Josh Allen in a top-five list shared on Instagram.
“Dak is tough, bro,” Stroud said. “Dak is one of the most accurate quarterbacks in the world.”
PFF Interior Defender Rankings: Top 32 ahead of the 2024 NFL season – Sam Monson, PFF
Osa Odighuzuwa makes the list at No. 23:
[Odighizuwa] is an ascending player who has improved each season in the NFL after being drafted by Dallas in the third round in 2021.
2023 was full of career highs for Odighizuwa, who earned at least above-average PFF grades as both a run defender and a pass-rusher. He finished with 44 total pressures and 27 defensive stops.
PFF also published their Linebacker rankings over the weekend. Sadly, no Cowboys players made the top 32.
ESPN report: Cowboys are “all-in” on Dak Prescott extension – Mark Heaney, Inside the Star
It’s moving at a snail’s pace, but the Dallas Cowboys appear to be committed to another deal with their veteran signal-caller.
Back in March, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport said the path was “clear” for Prescott to hit free agency. Other prominent reports, including insider Adam Schefter, have said teams are preparing for him to be on the open market. Now, with the ESPN report offering a different tune, we might need to change our expectations of the future in Dallas.
Prescott Extension Implications
Hypothetically, let’s say Fowler’s report is fully accurate. The Cowboys and Prescott push the narratives of this off-season to the side and get a new, likely record-breaking, contract done. That move would immediately have impacts on Dallas for years to come. For starters, the media and fans can cut all the drafting a quarterback talk out. Shedeur Sanders, Quinn Ewers, or any other collegiate quarterbacks will not head to the Cowboys with Prescott on a new contract.
If the deal is the standard 4-years in length, you shouldn’t expect a new QB in Dallas for at least a couple of years. This move would also deliver a major blow to the Trey Lance truthers. The former top-three picks future with the Cowboys is fully reliant on Prescott walking. With an extension in place, I would expect the team to seek a trade for Lance either before roster cuts or during the season. There is simply no future for Lance in Dallas with Prescott signed long-term.
Cowboys secondary matches up well with NFC East rivals – Reid Hanson, Cowboys Wire
Defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer has the pieces to have things “covered” in the division.
How Dallas matches up
Against the Eagles, Diggs matches up well on Brown. His long frame and aggressive nature give him an advantage against Philadelphia’s top weapon. Diggs’ loose playing style may give up plays here and there but it makes him hard for Brown to body up and gain leverage in contested situations.
Bland figures to be a good matchup against Smith as well. Bland is a little tighter with his coverage than Diggs and is better suited to play zone defense where he’s facing the passer. He has the ability to shadow Smith because he can travel inside and he has the strength to hold up in traffic as Smith seeks to create separation.
The Commanders have the shallowest pool of WR talent in the division so it might be less about direct matchups and more about scheme and discipline. As explained before, Zimmer may lean on zone coverage against Washington more since he doesn’t want his CBs turning their backs on Daniels. It will give a route tactician like McLaurin opportunities to find soft spots, but it will also limit overall damage. This should be an excellent way for Dallas to hone their zone coverage skills for when they face other top NFC opponents down the road.
Cowboys roster named ninth-best in the NFL by PFF – Matthew J. Lenix, Blogging the Boys
The Cowboys are just inside the top ten of the league’s best teams in this ranking.
The Dallas Cowboys roster will look vastly different in 2024 than it did a season ago. Left tackle Tyron Smith is now with the New York Jets, and center Tyler Biadasz went to the Washington Commanders to play for former Cowboys’ defensive coordinator Dan Quinn. Joining him are edge rushers Dorance Armstrong and Dante Fowler. Dallas also lost nose tackle Johnathan Hankins to the Seattle Seahawks, and cornerback Stephon Gilmore and safety Jayron Kearse are currently free agents, and it doesn’t seem like they’ll be back.
These players were all key components to what the Cowboys have done as a team the last few years. However, Pro Football Focus still believes in the talent Dallas brings to the table. It deemed the Cowboys as the ninth-best roster in the NFL.
- Dallas Cowboys
Biggest strength in 2023: Pass Rush
A pass rush led by Micah Parsons and DeMarcus Lawrence is likely among the best of the league, which was the case in 2023. For the second consecutive season, Dallas ranked second in the NFL in pass-rush grade. Parsons, Lawrence and other contributors such as Osa Odighizuwa and Sam Williams made Dallas’s defense one of the league’s most feared units.
Biggest weakness in 2023: Run Defense
The Cowboys’ primary weakness over the last couple of years has been their run defense. Though they ranked seventh in run-defense grade last season, that ranking is heavily weighted by standout performances against teams like the Jets and Chargers. When tasked with stopping better rushing offenses like the 49ers or Eagles, they tend to come up short more often than not.
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